


Reaping: The Family Trade

by Combat_boots



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cults, F/M, Fantasy, M/M, Magic School, Mild Language, Murder, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 11:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18849835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Combat_boots/pseuds/Combat_boots
Summary: I'm sorry, what gave you the impression that this was a nice story? They earn their names by their first murder, and don't care that one of the children doesn't want to kill people, he will anyway. After all, it's just a phase.(I am on mobile, so I can't make new tags, I'm trying to get this set up. Might be a little slow.)





	1. Chapter 1

In the Early Years, she was a simple conjurer. Barely making a living by performing tricks in inns, hoping for just a few coins. She slept on the streets, in a corner that changed every day as she got kicked out by the gaurd or other beggars. The only time she ever got the chance to bathe was when caravans would come in, and the gates would open long enough for her to get out to a nearby river and come back, and even then, it was only a rinse. Of course, she could try and get clean in the channel that went through the city, but that was filthier than the ground she slept on. 

One day, however, she was huddled in an alleyway when a small bag dropped out of a window above her. It was a nice house, with fancy curtains trailing out the window. The girl opened the bag hurriedly. To her disappointment, it did not have any gold inside it. The girl poured the contents out into her thin skirt. What fell out were dark, shiny rocks that seemed to hold a lord's ransom in colors inside them. She floated one up to eye level, and inspected it closely. Sure, they were pretty, but she couldn't use them to fill her belly or keep her warm. Ah, well, might as well keep them. 

Just as she was about to tuck them into her knapsack, another street rat, Bellina, snatched them away. "Mine now, worm!" She crowed as she ran away. The girl growled at the insult as Bellina ran away. Worm was a pretty common insult for the girl's people. She was one of the Yinon, who came from dwellings underground, and had several cities there as well, but most were decimated in various invasions by the other peoples. Yinon had large, yellow eyes, well-adapted for dark places, long nimble fingers, pointed teeth, and slate-colored skin, of varying darkness. The girl glared after Bellina, and crawled after her. 

The girl didn't manage to find her until that night, where she found Bellina asleep in a filthy, half collapsed shack. The girl crept in, and lifted the small bag from the pile that Bellina slept in. She opened it and took a gem out to check. They were all there. 

The girl looked at Bellina again, still angry. She floated the oval gem into the air above her head, and started to spin it. 

She spun it faster, and faster, till it was a blur above her hand. The girl grinned maliciously down at Bellina, and sent the jewel through her skull. 

"Mine." The girl wispered to the corpse. She left the bloody opal where it landed by Bellina's body. 

A few weeks and kills later, the girl was hiding in a shack, eating a loaf of bread that had just come out of the oven before she killed the baker. As she ate, she overheard a conversation on the street. 

"Did you hear? The Bloody Opal killed again!" The first voice said. 

"The killer who stabs their victims in the head and leaves an opal covered in blood?" A second asked. 

"The very same!" The first voice affirmed. 

The girl smiled to herself. "Bloody Opal. I like that." She said.


	2. Chapter 2

Bloody Opal dragged herself into the chamber by her skeletal fingers, yellow eyes searching for anything of note in the pitch-black room. She raised her staff, and pulled herself up to stand unsteadily, leaning heavily on the staff. 

Bloody Opal made a quick motion with her hand, creating a small, dim light to float in front of her. The Yinon made her way to the center of the chamber, and leaned on the altar there. She pulled a pair of blood filled vials and a cloth bag out of her pack. She poured the contents of the vials into the carved grooves on the altar, chanting quietly. Once they were empty, she threw them to the ground, shattering them. She pulled a large heart out of the bag and flung the bag away. She held the heart high and squeezed the blood it still held onto the altar. 

"I offer both blood old and young, innocent and corrupted, I offer these sacrifices and ask that you come." Bloody Opal chanted, her voice projecting and echoing all around.

There was silence.

Then a huge, deep rumbling sound so loud it shook the whole chamber. 

A figure large as mountain appeared in front of the altar. It's midnight skin rolled, as if it was barely containing the power within. Bloody Opal clumsily knelt in front of the altar, her staff clattering to the floor.

The being looked down at her. 

"Who are you to ask a boon of me?" It asked. Bloody Opal raised her head. 

"I have killed hundreds of innocents since my first kill, and each of them has been in your name. I joined the Sycths, those who devote their lives to bringing in your harvest, and I am among their best. I ask that you grant me power, so that I might kill forever in your name." She said, projecting her voice to be heard by the god. 

The god raised an eyebrow. "Indeed. It seems I do know you. Very well. I grant your prayer, and you will be my servant, and your children will be my servants. Your blood will be mine, and they shall serve me." The booming voice intoned. 

Bloody Opal smiled. "I thank you for your generosity, Lord Vanzian." The god leaned down, and brought a hand to her chin. She was lifted into the air, crippled legs dangling uselessly. 

Lord Vanzian's eyes began to glow. Bloody Opal started screaming. 

The scream became a high, cold laugh as she stood tall and strong, eyes red and hungry, fangs waiting for blood.

Oh, this will be fun. She thought, licking her lips.


	3. Chapter 3

Ashen quickly slipped the charm over his head,  not bothering to make it comfortable on his neck. He didn't have time. He packed his bag with what little he had. He couldn't stay. He couldn't let them change him. 

Ashen crept down the hall to his sister's room. He opened the door as silently as possible, and shook her awake. 

"Hm, what? What is it?" The Yinon girl said bleerily. 

"I'm getting out. I made a charm for you too, come with me." Ashen whispered urgently to his twin. 

Bloodia stared at him in confusion. "You're leaving? Why? You don't have any targets." Ashen shook his head in frustration. 

"I'm never going to have any targets again. I'm leaving for good, away from this insanity. Come with me, damnit." He repeated. Bloodia sat up. 

"Fine. Leave. Leave, and abandon the family. I won't." She said, crossing her arms. 

Ashen tensed up, hands preparing a spell. Bloodia shook her head and layed back down, waving him off. 

He relaxed his hands, and slipped out of her room. He walked as stealthily as possible through the hallways, avoiding the one golem activated at night. 

He managed to get out the door, when Gepenso caught him. 

"Ashen? What in the world are you doing?" He asked. Ashen panicked. If Gepenso went inside, all his work would have been for nothing. Gepenso's head fell to the ground, the rest of his body following a second later. Spectral garrote, simple spell. He hated it. 

Ashen ran through the forest, gray skin slashed open from thorns, and one long finger broken from an unfortunate fall. He could fix it later. What mattered now was distance. 

Where could he go? He didn't know of any small villages he could hide in. The big cities would be too obvious, that's where everyone goes to hide. That's where they'd look first. How would he live? Not the same way as the Ancestress did, that's why he left. Even if he knew a trade, no one hires Yinon. 

Wait. Wait. Magic. He was good at magic. He liked it. He need to learn how to not kill with magic. University. College. Something. 

Ashen huddled under a tree and unfurled his map, his candlelight eyes letting him see it without much difficulty. 

He frantically scanned it, muttering. "Jolan, no, Castle Winifred, no, Nodre City, no, wait, Valian. Valian, yes!" Destination in mind, he stuffed the map back in the bag, secured the strap around his shoulders, and set off to the northwest. 

Ashen refused to live as a murderer any more than he already had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do hope you're liking this. Please leave feedback!


	4. Chapter 4

Ashen grabbed his books and shifted the strap of his bag over his robes. Bolon ran past him, shoes untied and hair as mussed as always. "What is he late to this time?" Ashen asked his friend, Voliana. She shook her head. "I think it's Xenon script. That class started a minuite ago." 

Voliana flicked her hand upward, causing her own books to float, and gathered up the ingredients of the spell they had been about to start before class ended. Ashen nodded his thanks as she put them in the nearby cuboard. 

The Yinon girl fell into step with him as they walked to their Combative Spells class. "What?" Ashen asked. "You have a streak of yellow on your forehead." Voliana said with a giggle. Ashen growled in frustration and wiped the Jolo dust off. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Hey, be glad I said it now, rather than waiting for Nevan and Mocop to see it." 

"How did it even get there?" "It was right after the supposed sunlight spell blinded you." "And I had put up my hand to shield from the light and I had Jolo dust on the back of my hand. Great." "C'mon. What do you saay?" "Voliana. You know I hate the sing song voice." "Come ooonnn!" 

Ashen sighed. "Fine. Thank you for telling me it was there." Voliana laughed as they walked through the door into the classroom.

"Ohhhh, Voliana in a good mood and Ashen is brooding? What's upset the lovebirds now?" Mocop drawled. Mocop was a Dekel. Meaning he had a puffed up sense of superiority, an aggresive streak, and yellowish skin with glowing blue eyes. At the moment, he was draped across his chair, his desk, and the chair and desk next to his own. Which was rather impressive given that he was only 5 feet 4 inches tall. Dekel weren't a very tall people. 

"Down, boy. They'll work it out before you get the chance to kiss either of them." Nevan said to Mocop. Nevan was a Xenon, tall, ethereal, and relaxed. Despite his height of a lofty 6 foot 11 inches, he only took up the space of his chair, legs folded underneath him. His skin was a pale blue, and his hair silvery white. 

Ashen and Voliana sat down at their own desks, Voliana beside Nevan and Ashen shoving Mocop off his chair so he could sit. The rest of the room filled fairly quickly with other students. 

Master Golfan strode into the room, reducing the quiet conversations around the room to less than a whisper. He was simply a Falan, like most of the other students. A Falan, simply put, was what we would call a human. But, as this is very much not where we are, they called themselves something else. 

Classes continued. Ashen was safe. Ashen was happy. Who's to say a white sheep from a black herd can't be happy?


	5. Chapter 5

Later that day, Ashen and his friends gathered in the courtyard for lunch. He still had trouble getting used to the word friend. Closest thing he had to a friend before he came to Valian was his twin. 

Ashen sat down on a stone bench underneath a tree and caught the bag Mocop threw at him. "You know, I thought Master Fela wanted us to work on moving things with magic." He commented as he opened the bag. Mocop rolled his eyes. "Please. You're always such a good student. Give us a little time off." He bit into the apple from his own bag. 

"There is hardly any shame in being a diligent student." Nevan said from his seat in the tree. "It only becomes a problem when the student in question can't keep up. Like Bolon." The Falan ran across the courtyard, fell, frantically picked all his books back up, and started off running again. They all shook their heads.

"He needs a bag of some sort at the very least." Voliana said. She sat on the grass, grey legs tucked underneath her as she ate. Ashen nodded in agreement. 

At the end of their lunch, the group started to head inside, but were pushed back by a rush of students. "Hey, what's going on?" Ashen asked. A young Dekel girl ran up. "They said one of the students got caught in one of the big crimes! There's a big assembly about it and everybody needs to be there!" She said, her yellow skin flushed, before running back off. 

Nevan's face turned grave. "Everyone knows the penalty. Why do they keep doing this stuff?"

"Because they think they won't get caught." Mocop said darkly, a hard glare on his normally jovial face. 

Ashen stayed silent. He had only killed because he had no choice, but he really doubted the Archmage would see it that way. Or the courts of the kingdom the school was in. Or, really, anyone but him.  But he had hid it this long. It's not like anyone else who knew would go to court about it. 

As they entered the great hall, a hush fell over the crowd. The Archmage, a Yinon like Ashen and Voliana, and his second in command, Mistress Gella, another Falan, stood on a raised dias with a struggling figure. Once everyone was inside, the heavy doors closed with a loud, final boom. 

The golem that had been holding the struggling figure released them, and the Archmage reached over and yanked back the hood, revealing Jelan. There were a few suprised gasps, but not to many. Everyone knew that Dekel. He tended to get in trouble, but never for anything serious. Everyone knew he did real crimes though. Nobody wanted to be the one who said anything though. 

"Jelan Holest, of the Kalen Forest, you have been convicted of smuggling of illegal goods and abetting a necromancer in his work. The punishment is expulsion from the Valian Academy of Magical Arts and the inability to ever practice magic again. Have you anything to say in your defense?" The Archmage's voice projected across the hall as he recited Jelan's crimes and sentance. 

"Fuck you." He spat on the ground in front of the Archmage's and Gella's feet. The Archmage sighed, and motioned to Gella, shoving Jelan back into the golem's grasp.

Gella stepped forward, heating up a brand with magical fire burning in her palm. Many students turned away, and most of the younger ones covered their ears as well. A student commiting a crime severe enough for this punishment hadn't happened in years. But everyone still knew what that brand meant. 

Including Jelan. He struggled harder than ever, desperately keeping as far away from Gella as he could. But the golem was very strong, and he couldn't do much. Even from where Ashen stood, he could see the Dekel's yellow skin pale until it was nearly white. The brand hit flesh. Jelan's scream didn't entirely drown out the sound of Gella's chanting, or the sound of a spell being cast. 

Everyone could see the mark on the side of Jelan's neck. It sizzled and glowed bright red. 

"Each of you know the penalty. It was required when you entered. Now you understand that it will be carried out." The Archmage declared as the golem shuffled out with the crying Dekel. The huge doors opened up again, and no one lingered. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are my names too weird? I feel like the names I'm coming up with are really weird.


End file.
